Martin Payne is the title character on the FOX TV series Martin. The part of Martin Payne is played by comedian/actor Martin Lawrence.
Background[]
Martin was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan with his two best friends Tommy Strawn (Thomas Mikal Ford) and Cole Brown (Carl Anthony Payne II). He was raised by his mother Edna "Mama" Payne. His father is mentioned once in the show's pilot episode, "Beauty And The Beast".
During his high school years, Martin had a rivalry with the popular guy, Ricky Fontaine, also called "Pretty Ricky" (portrayed by Miguel A. Nunez Jr.).
Personality Traits[]
Martin can tend to be brash, cocky, sexist, and ill tempered but is always there for his friends and his girlfriend.
Jobs[]
Radio[]
In Seasons 1-2, Martin worked as a radio DJ with his own show on WZUP, a fictional radio station. Martin's topics were always interesting but insulting. Martin always spoke the truth on his show. Most of the topics he talked about included relationships and celebrity guests, and sometimes he talked about his relationship with Gina. Periodically, his topics insulted his friends, and he unintentionally exposed their personal business. For instance, Martin accidentally revealed Pam's secret to getting promotions at work.
Martin's boss was an eccentric, tacky-dressing man named Stan Winters (Garrett Morris). Stan was truly a good person, but his wacky personality sometimes got on Martin's nerves. On Martin's radio show, he had a good fan reception and had many celebrity guests on his show (such as Richard Pryor and Keith Washington).
Martin's co-worker Shawn McDermott (Jon Gries) was the station's engineer. Even though Shawn was a little dimwitted and weird, he always offered Martin good advice. At the end of Season 2, in Shawn's final episode, when WZUP was rebranded as a country station under new management and Martin lost his job, Shawn basically told Martin to follow his dreams and to never give up. Despite advice from Shawn and everyone else around him, Martin grew very depressed and ran away from his everyday life and was missing for a long period of time.
Trivia[]
- Martin has also played a handful of iconic characters such as Edna Payne, Roscoe, Jerome, Otis, Dragonfly Jones, King Beef, Elroy Preston, Bob and the fan favorite Sheneneh Jenkins.